German Nazi Party member Joseph Goebbels became Adolf
Hitler's propaganda minister in 1933, which gave him power over all German radio, press,
cinema, and theater.

In 1925 Goebbels met the party leader Adolf Hitler. In 1926
he was made Gauleiter, or party leader, for the region of Berlin, and in 1927 he
founded and became editor of the official National Socialist periodical Der Angriff
(The Attack). He was elected to the Reichstag, the German parliament, in 1928. By
exploiting mob emotions and by employing all modern methods of propaganda Goebbels helped
Hitler into power.

His work as a propagandist materially aided Hitler's rise to
power in 1933. When Hitler seized power in 1933, Goebbels was appointed Reichsminister for
propaganda and national enlightenment. From then until his death, Goebbels used all media
of education and communications to further Nazi propagandistic aims, instilling in the
Germans the concept of their leader as a veritable god and of their destiny as the rulers
of the world. In 1938 he became a member of the Hitler cabinet council. Late in World War
II, in 1944, Hitler placed him in charge of total mobilization.

As Reichsminister for Propaganda and National Enlightenment,
Goebbels was given complete control over radio, press, cinema, and theater; later he also
regimented all German culture. Goebbels placed his undeniable intelligence and his
brilliant insight into mass psychology entirely at the service of his party. His most
virulent propaganda was against the Jews. As a hypnotic orator he was second only to
Hitler, and in his staging of mass meetings and parades he was unsurpassed. Utterly
cynical, he seems to have believed only in the self-justification of power. He remained
loyal to Hitler until the end. On May 1, 1945, as Soviet troops were storming Berlin,
Goebbels committed suicide.

Listed below are the principles purported to summarize what made Goebbels tick or fail to
tick. They may be thought of as his intellectual legacy. Whether the legacy has been
reliably deduced is a methodological question. Whether it is valid is a psychological
matter. Whether or when parts of it should be utilized in a democratic society are
profound and disturbing problems of a political and ethical nature.

GOEBBELS' PRINCIPLES OF PROPAGANDA

Based upon Goebbels' Principles of
Propaganda by Leonard W. Doob, published in Public Opinion and Propaganda; A Book
of Readings edited for The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.

1. Propagandist must have access to intelligence
concerning events and public opinion.

2. Propaganda must be planned and executed by only one authority.

a. It must issue all the propaganda directives.

b. It must explain propaganda directives to important officials and maintain their
morale.

c. It must oversee other agencies' activities which have propaganda consequences

3. The propaganda consequences of an action must be considered in planning that action.

4. Propaganda must affect the enemy's policy and action.

a. By suppressing propagandistically desirable material which can provide the enemy
with useful intelligence

c. By goading the enemy into revealing vital information about himself

d. By making no reference to a desired enemy activity when any reference would
discredit that activity

5. Declassified, operational information must be available to implement a propaganda
campaign

6. To be perceived, propaganda must evoke the interest of an audience and must be
transmitted through an attention-getting communications medium.

7. Credibility alone must determine whether propaganda output should be true or false.

8. The purpose, content and effectiveness of enemy propaganda; the strength and effects
of an expose; and the nature of current propaganda campaigns determine whether enemy
propaganda should be ignored or refuted.

9. Credibility, intelligence, and the possible effects of communicating determine
whether propaganda materials should be censored.

10. Material from enemy propaganda may be utilized in operations when it helps diminish
that enemy's prestige or lends support to the propagandist's own objective.

11. Black rather than white propaganda may be employed when the latter is less credible
or produces undesirable effects.

12. Propaganda may be facilitated by leaders with prestige.

13. Propaganda must be carefully timed.

a. The communication must reach the audience ahead of competing propaganda.

b. A propaganda campaign must begin at the optimum moment

c. A propaganda theme must be repeated, but not beyond some point of diminishing
effectiveness

14. Propaganda must label events and people with distinctive phrases or slogans.

a. They must evoke desired responses which the audience previously possesses

b. They must be capable of being easily learned

c. They must be utilized again and again, but only in appropriate situations

d. They must be boomerang-proof

15. Propaganda to the home front must prevent the raising of false hopes which can be
blasted by future events.

16. Propaganda to the home front must create an optimum anxiety level.

a. Propaganda must reinforce anxiety concerning the consequences of defeat

b. Propaganda must diminish anxiety (other than concerning the consequences of defeat)
which is too high and which cannot be reduced by people themselves

17. Propaganda to the home front must diminish the impact of frustration.

a. Inevitable frustrations must be anticipated

b. Inevitable frustrations must be placed in perspective

18. Propaganda must facilitate the displacement of aggression by specifying the targets
for hatred.

19. Propaganda cannot immediately affect strong counter-tendencies; instead it must
offer some form of action or diversion, or both.